Mike Love 1980's Recordings

[Doo Dah]

'Can't Stop...' sounds like last call at the Holiday Inn. 

[Jim V.]

I know that one song from the Mike Love/Adrian Baker sessions that actually got a proper release was "Let's Party" as the  b-side of "Jingle Bell Rock".

And I know "Camp California" and "Summertime Music" were both issued on the Summertime Cruisin' album by Mike and Bruce.

Also of interest (I guess) would be that under "Adrian Baker" on iTunes is a bunch of the stuff that appeared on those Mike Love "albums" from the '90s (Catch a Wave, Salutes NASCAR, Summertime Cruisin'). No originals I'm pretty sure though. Just remakes.

[CenturyDeprived]

Thank you, AGD, for clearing all of it up. And what a strange prank for somebody to play back in the day.....

It would be funny if it were a prank, but isn't it more likely that somehow a tape of the vocals (or of the backing track) got played back at an incorrect speed, thus causing the pitch to shift and sound terrible as it does? Just a guess. I wonder which it is: prank or innocent goof?

[zachrwolfe]

‍

[adamghost]

As I said, a bunch of yahoos hanging around the studio put the vocal through an SPX 90 and do a mix with the return in a different key.  It would still be in rhythm to the track.

And as far as it being obscure, if you've ever hung out in a recording studio, this kind of thing isn't at all unusual; it just usually doesn't get disseminated.  It's just a private joke for the engineer and his buddies.  Maybe Mike annoyed the engineer that day or something, and he took revenge for his own amusement later.  Or something like that.

[rogerlancelot]

I wish a version like Andrew described (in key) would show up as it would really help dispel any speculation. Either way, this version is so funny that I will be putting it in my music mixes just to watch the reactions of others. Curiously, the makers of the Dumb Angel Rarities series had nothing at all to really say about it.

[Catbirdman]

I wish a version like Andrew described (in key) would show up as it would really help dispel any speculation.

But this is not a matter of speculation. It is not possible for the human voice no matter how gifted a singer they may be to sing exactly the same interval off key and stay exactly on that pitch throughout a whiole take like we hear here. it's just not possible. It boggles my mind how there are some people that even for a half second consider that this might have been anything but a post-production occurrence.

[rogerlancelot]

I wish a version like Andrew described (in key) would show up as it would really help dispel any speculation.

But this is not a matter of speculation. It is not possible for the human voice no matter how gifted a singer they may be to sing exactly the same interval off key and stay exactly on that pitch throughout a whiole take like we hear here. it's just not possible. It boggles my mind how there are some people that even for a half second consider that this might have been anything but a post-production occurrence.

You're right. Andrew said he had heard a version that he called "in sync" which I imagine means that vocal and instruments were in the same pitch. Of course, that is only an assumption based on what he said which to me means that this was a prank on the part of the engineer who leaked this particular tape to the bootleggers all those years ago. Last time I listened to this song last night, I played along on my piano in the key of F Major but could not figure out which key the vocal was in since it kept changing slightly leading me to believe (even if for half a second) that maybe this was just some really poor vocalizing. Please prove me wrong, somebody. Anybody. Is singing everything really flat supposed to be the equivalent of jazz music?

[KittyKat]

How far back do these tapes go in terms of circulating? Didn't Adrian Baker get fired by Mike? That would seem like good incentive to have a laugh at Mike's expense, whether by Adrian or a sympathetic friend of Adrian.

[zachrwolfe]

‍

[joshferrell]

so are there supposed to be lyrics in the "do do do do do, la la la" sections? or was that how it was intended? it's actually not a bad song but it sounds unfinished,,,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-pW2OMxlv4&feature=youtu.be

[tpesky]

Mike spent a good chunk of the 80s  and 90s singing half a step off key...... But seriously, I'm amazed how much better Mike sounds now than he did in the late 80s and 90s.  I know he took vocal lessons,  but I will credit him with whatever it was. 

[CenturyDeprived]

Mike spent a good chunk of the 80s  and 90s singing half a step off key...... But seriously, I'm amazed how much better Mike sounds now than he did in the late 80s and 90s.  I know he took vocal lessons,  but I will credit him with whatever it was. 

I think the worst thing that Mike could ever do with his voice (which he did, gratuitously for about 15 years) is actively try hard, really really hard, to sound nasally and “young” the way he did in the early days. When he did that in the ‘70s and ‘80s it just became awful, awful self-parody. When he toned his voice down more into Kokomo/Cool Head/Meant for You mode, it suited and suits him far, far better. Perhaps he did that because age wouldn’t let him sound like his “young” self anymore, but thankfully he seems to work better within his own limitations these days.